In the jungle, the morning always started with group gymnastics. Lion Kuba made big paw swings wearing his most elegant morning hat, Zofia stretched her neck as high as possible to reach the tastiest palm leaves, Patricia gracefully slipped between her friends’ paws, and Alfred… well, Alfred stretched his long nose and sniffed the fresh tropical air.
After exercises, it was time for breakfast. Kuba eagerly devoured steak-flavored cookies (of course, steak-flavored, not made of steak – Kuba watched his figure!), Zofia crunched palm cookies, Patricia had her favorite cheese rounds, and Alfred enjoyed ant cookies whose scent spread across the clearing.
As soon as they finished breakfast, jungle residents began arriving with their problems. First came chimpanzee Szymon – complaining someone was stealing his bananas. Right after him came owl Sonia, who lost her glasses in the bamboo thicket. Finally, out of breath, elephant Stefan ran in. „Detectives!” he called. „Strange signs appeared on the old wall in the cave. I’m afraid it’s a curse!”
Patricia jumped with excitement. „Mysterious inscriptions? That’s for me!” she squeaked and grabbed her favorite magnifying glass. Kuba put on his explorer hat and commanded: „Team, let’s head to Stefan’s cave!”
The cave was dimly lit, but that was no problem for Patricia. She illuminated the wall with a flashlight attached to her magnifying glass. „Look!” she called. „It’s not a curse, but a very old drawing, yet… someone added something to it!”
Giraffe Zofia immediately pulled out her notebook and started drawing a map of the signs. „Hmm, this symbol reminds me of a palm leaf, and this one… a cheese cookie?” she wondered aloud.
Lion Kuba dramatically spread his paws as usual: „It must be a secret code of the lost jungle civilization!”
Patricia approached the wall and began examining the inscriptions closely. Her photographic memory made her instantly recognize repeating letters. „It’s a riddle!” she chirped. „Someone wrote: 'Find the treasure where the biggest shadow falls.'”
Alfred sniffed the wall and muttered: „It smells like fresh ink… and cheese cookies. Patricia, did you hide something?”
Patricia blushed up to her ears. „It’s not me! But… I remember young squirrels played here yesterday. They had a piece of chalk and love riddles very much.”
Zofia pointed to the biggest shadow in the cave, which fell behind a large stone. Kuba approached and easily moved the boulder aside. „Aha!” he called. „There’s something here!”
Behind the stone lay a small box containing… cheese cookies and a letter: 'For mouse Patricia – a thank you from the squirrels for helping solve the puzzle!’
Everyone burst out laughing. Stefan breathed a sigh of relief, Szymon and Sonia smiled too. „Thank you, detectives!” said elephant Stefan. „Now I’m not afraid of mysterious signs anymore.”
Thus, thanks to Patricia’s magnifying glass and Zofia’s map, the cave mystery was solved, and the detectives once again proved that in the jungle there are no secrets they can’t handle!